What is a Hemi?
The “hemi” part of a Chrysler HEMI engine refers to a hemispherical combustion chamber in which the fuel mixes with the air. Instead of having a traditional “wedge” engine design, the Hemi is instead hemispherically shaped, and the air/fuel mixtures can combine more efficiently in the combustion chamber, helping the engine to breathe better. A true hemispherical engine is fully spherical, and there are also several sub-categories of Hemi engine that encompass certain percentages of the sphere. These are known as “partial-spherical” engines. The History of the Hemi Engine Hemi engines have been used in automotive production since 1903. The first hemi engines were designed by a Belgian automaker, although hemi engines have appeared throughout history in vehicles from Ford to Mitsubishi to Aston Martin. We most commonly associate hemi engines with the automaker Chrysler. Chrysler’s HEMI became famous in the 1970’s when muscle cars were on everyone’s wish list. Chrysler’s HEMI engines repo
